Cabin humidity can fall to nearly 10 percent during a long-haul flight—dry enough to produce measurable changes in the eyes, nose and skin.
A July 31 update urges governments and households to treat
The 136-page federal guide urges communities to prepare filtration, cleaner-air rooms and public shelters before wildfire smoke arrives.
New York City’s second-most severe smoke event in modern records pushed the Air Quality Index to 289 as officials distributed respirators and urged residents to limit their exposure.
NOAA imagery traced Canadian wildfire smoke across North America, but local monitoring remains essential for understanding what people are breathing.
Indoor air quality is often treated as a comfort issue: a stuffy room, a dusty house or an unpleasant smell. But the Environmental Protection Agency says indoor air pollution can affect health, especially for people with asthma, heart disease, children and older adults.
Outdoor air pollution remains one of the most significant environmental threats to respiratory health, with the World Health Organization warning that polluted air contributes to disease burdens across nearly every region of the world.
Wildfire smoke is becoming a recurring indoor air problem, not just an outdoor hazard, and the Environmental Protection Agency says a low-cost do-it-yourself air cleaner can help reduce smoke particles inside homes.